


A Lycan's Tale

by oaixxia



Category: UP10TION
Genre: F/M, Fantasy, Historical, Historical Fantasy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-07
Updated: 2019-01-07
Packaged: 2019-10-05 22:25:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,240
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17333513
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/oaixxia/pseuds/oaixxia
Summary: Yein had been alone for as long as he can remember- he had no friends, lover nor a family for his kind has never been the type to be emotional. It was the thirteenth century and he had lost count of how many years had passed ever since he had started to exist. A hundred, a couple of hundred or more? It was not like it really mattered. In his hundreds of years of being alive, he only knew how to follow his instincts - his hunting instincts. He is a lycan, residing in the woods near a village with small population. It was the middle of the thirteenth century. He ha been residing on that place even before the first generation of that village were born but being a lycan, his youth takes centuries to fade. He occasionally disguises himself as a human to visit the village in order to lure people into the woods and devour them mercilessly. Then, one day, he meets her- a shaman named Jinseong. To him, she is nothing but another plain human girl who did not even catch his eyes. "She is just another prey" was what he mistakenly thought and little did he know that their meeting would drastically change his life.





	1. A Fated Encounter

It was just another normal day for Jinseong. She woke up earlier than the sun rise to prepare the necessary equipments for their temple's morning ritual. Their head shaman decided that they would do the ritual regularly until the 'beast' lurking in the woods disappear. It was not much of a surprise for Jinseong that they had been doing the same ceremony for years without accomplishing anything. Still, the people insisted that the temple would keep on praying, in hopes that a miracle would occur anytime soon. As for Jinseong, she had already lost her faith ages ago but she continued on being a shaman in order to fulfill her deceased mother's wishes and maybe, just maybe, a tiny part of herself wished that prayers would be enough to kill that 'murderer'.

"Jinseong!" screamed a familiar voice as Jinseong entered the quarters of the shaman. It was Chiwon, her closest friend. They had known each other ever since they were little and the two could not be happier when both of them became a shaman. The two of them were also the youngest in the temple so they would stick together in doing the 'menial tasks'. Chiwon had a relieved expression on her face which made Jinseong confused.

"What's with the face?" She asked with a chuckle. "Did anything happen?"

"How can you laugh, seriously? I woke up and you're gone. How would I know if anything bad happens to you?" Chiwon's forehead were creased, worry all over her face and her friend felt guilty for causing that expression. "Did you go to the woods by yourself? You should have woken me up."

"You're thinking too much." Jinseong shook her head and smiled reassuringly. "I didn't go that deep into the woods and it's almost morning. Nothing could have gone wrong."

"Have you already forgotten? The last victim disappeared in the middle of the day in the middle of the village. It's way better for me to be overthinking things than being careless." Chiwon frowned.

"Fine, fine. I'll stick with you next time." Since it did not look like any words of reassurance would be able to convince her friend any time soon, she decided to give up in arguing. "Anyway, we should hurry up with the preparations or we won't hear the end of the head shaman's sermon." She said with a giggle and her friend giggled along.

The ceremony went on smoothly. A lot of villagers went to the temple to watch the ritual and afterwards, they all started to pray for the safety of their village and for the safety of every single person living there. There were a lot more people than usual and it was as expected by the head shaman. After all, the 'beast' would be hunting in their village any day soon. Everyone, although they would not talk about it out loud, had noticed his pattern. He would only hunt their village once a month. As to what happens in between or why he would do that, no one was certain but there were rumors that the same being would hunt the neighboring villages. Since more than a month had already passed since the last victim, they knew that any of them could be the next victim.

'A bunch of hypocrites.' were the words inside Jinseong's head. 'None of them really cares about others. None of them comes when we're praying for the other villages nor anyone comes when we're praying for the souls of the deceased. They'll just care if them or someone they know are in danger. It's so disgusting, watching them pray insincerely then later watching them let out a sigh of relief once they find out that someone else has died.' She was standing at the side with the rest of the shamans while the head shaman led the prayer and the rest of the ceremony. The few minutes of the remaining time for the ceremony seemed to have taken forever.

"Are you all right?" Chiwon asked her as the two of them entered the kitchen. Jinseong had that solemn expression on her face and she did not notice it was there until her friend pointed it out. 

"Huh?" Jinseong raised an eyebrow, taking a deep breath before relaxing. "Yes, I'm fine. Why do you ask?"

"No reason." Chiwon shook her head and began preparing their breakfast. Jinseong took a seat at the table, watching her friend do the kitchen work. "You see, I've been doing a lot of thinking recently."

"What are you thinking about?"

"Do you think our prayers work? As a shaman, I know I should not corrupt my mind with such thoughts but I can't help it. People are dying and it seems like a prayers never reach heaven." There was bitterness in her voice and Jinseong was aware where her friend was coming from. She had the same thoughts too after all. "You know, just forget what I just said. I'm just hungry so I'm spouting nonsense."

"No, I get it." Jinseong said with a gentle smile. "In fact, that's what I've been always thinking about, every morning ritual. That's also what I was thinking about a while ago so I could not focus on praying- Please do not tell the head shaman."

"It's a relief that it's not only me." Chiwon replied as she continued on cooking. "But I hope we're both thinking nonsense. The heavens must have heard us. It's just not the right time yet but soon, it'll be the end for that murderer."

"If I meet that murderer, I would kill him myself." The smile was still on Jinseong's face but it turned from gentle to a cruel one. Chiwon sighed but before she could speak to disagree with her friend, the latter rose from her seat and said, "I think we're out of drinking water. I must go fetch some."

"Wait, I told you not to go out by your--" But her friend had already disappeared before she could finish what she was saying. She took a deep breath. "She's never careful. Seriously, what must I do with her?"

\-------

"Ugh" Jinseong groaned in pain as she tripped on the rocky road. Both her knees were scratched by the edges of the rocks making both of them bleed a little but what concerned the female more was the two jars of drinking water that she spilled. "Now, I have to go back and get some water again." She whined and bit her lips to stop herself from screaming because of the pain.

"Miss, are you all right?" A gentle voice came out of nowhere. She turned her head to look at the male who was walking towards her from behind. The male had a noble aura surrounding him or at least, in Jinseong's perspective. His voice was so gentle, like a mother talking to her child. He extended out his hand to offer her help.

"I-I'm fine." She could not help but stammer, embarrassed that a stranger witnessed her clumsiness. People would rarely pass by that road so she was not expecting to meet someone there. For the second time, she tried to get up but failed. Hesitantly, she grabbed the strangers hand and he carefully pulled her up. "Thank you very much. It was a huge help." She said, bowing politely. "Now, if you must excuse me, I must get going. I still have water to fetch and other things to do."

"How can you get going when your knees are bleeding like that?" Jinseong looked down on her knees, wondering if the blood was visible through her hanbok- it was not.

"What, how did you know my knees are bleeding?" She glared at him suspiciously. 'There's something odd about this person'.

"I don't know. I just guessed." He smiled and she could not help but admire her feminine features. Her glare had already disappeared. She found herself lost for words as the other spoke. "But since I guessed right, I should help you." He picked up the two jars that were lying on the road. "These are yours, right?" She nodded so he handed both of the jars to her before he knelt down on the grand on one knee, his back facing her. "Climb up. I'll carry you."

"Eh?" Jinseong quickly shook her head. "No, thank you but no. I'm fine. I can still walk and you've already been plenty of help."

"Please, I insist. You're embarrassing me since I've already knelt down and all." The stranger replied with a chuckle.

"Fine." She muttered under her breath, not helping but to comply. "Thank you, mister. I'll never forget that I'm indebted to you." He stood up right after she wrapped one arm loosely around his neck while one of her arms were holding the jars.

"Just think of this as a form of payment. You're a shaman, right?" He asked as he started walking.

"How did you know?" She raised an eyebrow.

"I saw you in the temple earlier, doing that dancing thing- I mean, ritual to get rid of the 'beast'. You shamans should be treated nicely for doing such good deeds." She could not help but smile at the statement but stopped herself from being too affected. People tend to praise them in their front and stab them in their back, not that she cared. 

"Well, we're accepting donations so if you feel really indebted, be more generous to us." She replied then she heard the stranger chuckle.

"I'll make sure to give a lot of donations later then." He was still laughing as he talked. "I thought you shamans need to at least hide that you're after our money. It scares people away, you know? Shamans should give off the image of someone who prays for the sake of praying not for material things."

"I don't know where you got the idea but we're people too except that we have no way of earning money aside from donations since we spend the whole day praying all your worries away."

"Sure, sure." She could sense the sarcasm on his voice but decided to ignore it. "How are the prayers going by the way? Is the 'beast' going to die now that a ritual is held?"

"You and I both know that's not true. We've been praying for ages but it seems like the heaven is on that murderer's side."

"Murderer, huh? You have some kind of personal grudge?" He asked with a chuckle. She felt offended by his light take on the matter but decided not to dwell on it too much. People have different ways of expressing themselves so his chuckle might not be what she thought it meant.

"Let's just say that I do." She replied, nodding. After a couple more minutes, they arrived at the well. The stranger put her down and let her sit on the rock. He silently grabbed the jars from her and fetched some waters for her. "Thank you." She muttered sheepishly then said, "I just remembered that I forgot to ask your name."

"Does that matter?" He asked, placing the jars next to her then handing her two pieces of cloth, one of them drenched in water. "Here, sanitize your wounds or do you want me to?"

"Thank you but I can do it myself." She proceeded to wash her wounds with the wet cloth while the stranger stood next to her, gaze fixed afar. She cleared her throat to catch his attention once she's done. "Anyway, just tell me your name. I can pray for you as thanks."

"I don't need prayers as thanks." He replied, smiling cheekily. "But my name's Yein."

"Yein, " she repeated. "I'll remember that since you're a nice person and I'm indebted to you. I'm Jinseong."

"Jinseong, that's a nice name. I shall remember that too." He walked in front of her then extended out his hand to help her up. "I'll accompany you back to the temple."

"I don't want to trouble you anymore. I can really walk now." 

"Don't think of it as troubling me. We just happen to be going on the same way. I have some donations to give to the temple, you see" He said with a smile - a smile that looked so faultless in her eyes. Jinseong looked at him through squinted eyes, wondering if it had something to do with what she told him before but ended up giving in. 'How can I resist someone who smiles like that?'

"Fine." She answered.

The trip to the temple was a silent one except for the constant grunt that Jinseong would accidentally let out whenever the pain on her knees was too much. Yein was carrying the jars while she was limping next to him. She told him that she would be too embarrassed to face the others if he were to carry her again so he let her do what she wanted. Her relief could not be summarized in words once they finally arrived. 'Finally, I feel like my legs would give in any moment'. 

"Thank you so much and I'm really sorry for taking up too much of your time." Jinseong said while bowing politely.

"It's no problem. Like I said, think of it as a payment instead." Yein replied, bowing as well. "Anyway, I should get going now. I hope to see you around, Jinseong." With that, he left.

Little did she knew that it was the beginning... the beginning of the end.


	2. Her

The sun had risen up the sky, illuminating the path that Yein was walking through. It was another normal day - boring, boring, boring. He travelled from place to place for a month, waiting for people to wander carelessly in the woods or going into a village and fooling the unsuspecting preys. He made sure that he would not attack a village in two consecutive nights to make sure that he would not raise suspicion. What was he doing it for? Necessity? Pleasure? It did not really matter for Yein anymore. Before, more than the taste of flesh and blood, he enjoyed his prey's screams of agony as they breathed their last. However, as time passed by, he stopped feeling the pleasure and hunting was just another task to do in order to survive.

'Survive. What for?' A tiny voice in his head asked but the lycan was too busy thinking of a strategy to have a time to waste on insignificant thoughts. He would survive for the sake of surviving. Other than that, reasons are not needed - at least, that's what he thought.

Music and chants filled his surroundings as he entered the temple where a crowd gathered. He managed to hide a smug grin on his face as he watched the shamans dance as part of the ceremony. 'If praying can kill me, then I would have died ages ago. This just looks really funny.' It was out of curiosity that he stayed to finish the whole ritual. It was not the first time that he had seen one but it had been decades since he had watched something like that. 'Should I hunt one of the shamans? That would be really ironic.' A smile slipped on his face at the thought but it vanished as quickly as it appeared. Anyone would actually do as long as he could feed himself but there would be times like this when he would be picky to keep things exciting.

After the ceremony, he wandered around the temple for a while, waiting for the perfect time and waiting for the perfect victim - perhaps, an unguarded careless shaman would just walk out by herself, either unaware or not caring about the possible consequence. Perhaps, it was because he was near the temple that his prayers were heard to quickly. Someone who fit the description appeared in front of him, striding outside the temple and heading towards the direction of the nearest well.

"Hm..." He hummed, his lips pressed into a smile. "But I should not let my guard down. Shamans can't be that careless, right? She must have something up her sleeves." He muttered to himself and stealthily followed her, making sure that she would not notice his presence. There were barely people passing by the road but he was careful enough not to raise suspicion.

They arrived at the well and the shaman was humming a silly tune while Yein was silently observing her from behind a tree. 'I was worried for nothing. This looks like an easy kill.' He let out a sigh of disappointment. Despite it being the perfect opportunity to attack, he found himself being frozen in place. Instead, he just stood still, observing the human - her annoying humming voice, her clumsy way of holding the jar as she fetched the water, her average face that looked no more attractive than the rest. There is nothing special about her except that he seemed to have lost the energy to move and launch an attack and that was the first time it happened.

'Does she have some kind of Talisman? That can't be. Talismans are not effective against lycans like me. I've encountered plenty of them before.' As his thoughts were occupied with hypotheses on what was going on with him, his body moved unconsciously but carefully, following the female who was on her way back to the temple. 'Or is it their prayer? Since they've been doing it for more than a hundred years now, the heavens or whatever they're praying to must have heard them already. Now, I'm making less sense.'

"Ugh" He stopped his tracks when the girl grunted as she tripped down on the road. He was reading her too much. She seemed nothing but a shaman with only air in her head. At this point, he had already forgotten what his original intention was. He walked towards the female and extended out his hand, offering help.

"Miss, are you all right?" He spoke in a gentle voice, a manner of speaking that he learned so humans could easily trust him. Needless to say, it had always been effective. However, this time, it did not matter for his main problem was himself. 'We are this close but I can't bring myself to attack. Am I getting old?'

"I-I'm fine," replied the Shaman. She was stubborn and had a really high pride, traits which Yein thought do not really fit for someone as clumsy as her.

After much convincing, the female finally let him help. He accompanied her to the well, helped her with her wounds and accompanied her back to the temple. There are two things that he learned while conversing with her: Her name is Jinseong - a name which he would not like to forget, and she loathes him - not that it was a surprise. As a lycan, he had always been hated by every single human that he encountered. After all, who would accept someone who mercilessly kills their kind? Those two things that he learned were of no help in figuring out what was going on with him.

"Oh well, I should just go back to their village tomorrow." Yein was already back in the woods and he was sitting on a branch of a tall tree, his back leaning against the trunk as he gazed upon the moon light. Without realizing, he was humming a tune - that same silly tune he heard Jinseong humming. "I may be damned."

\-------

The next morning, Yein was awaken by the sound of his growling stomach. Skipping his meal for a whole day made him hungry, a reminder that his hunting was not only for the excitement but also for his necessity. He let out a sigh before jumping down from the tree and changing his clothes to more decent ones. "Should I just give up on hunting Jinseong and go for someone else? I might end up starving myself if I continue acting like I did yesterday." Talking to himself had always been a habit whenever he's alone. His voice was soft enough for anyone to hear. "But I must find answers." 

So, off he go back to the village and back to the human who caught his interest. It did not take too long to find her, thanks to his hunting ability. He saw her at the marketplace, admiring some of the jewelries for trading together with another shaman. Yein casually approached her, a smile spread across his lips. As he walked towards her, their eyes meet and Jinseong cheerfully returned the smile.

"Good day." Yein greeted and bowed at the two shamans politely.

"Good morning." Jinseong greeted back with a bow then introduced her friend, "This is Chiwon, a really close friend of mine," She then glanced at her friend. "And Chiwon, this is Yein, the person I was telling you about yesterday - the one who helped me carry the jars of water."

"I see." Chiwon bowed towards him, smiling. "It's nice meeting you, sir."

"The pleasure's mine." Yein replied at the acquaintance with a nod then turned his gaze to Jinseong. She looked brighter than she was the previous day. 'Is it because the sun shines brighter on this side of the village?' "You seem enthusiastic." He thought that he was the type to be careful with his words so he was surprised to notice Jinseong's expression stiffen at his statement.

"What do you mean by that? I always look enthusiastic."

"I don't mean anything offensive by that." He chuckled out of nervousness - a feeling which he rarely had. "You just looked a bit snobby yesterday or is it because I met you at the wrong time?" He quickly jumped off to another topic, not giving her a chance to argue. "By the way, how are your knees? Can you walk all right now?"

"Yes, thank you for your concern." She still had the stiff expression on her face so it was difficult for Yein to tell whether she was genuinely grateful or not. Empathy was not exactly his best trait. "Anyway, it was nice seeing you again. Chiwon and I have some errands to do so we must get going."

"If you want to talk more, I am willing to finish the errand by myself." Chiwon said with a cheeky smile, wiggling her eyebrows at her best friend. 

"I can't let you do that." Jinseong squinted her eyes at her friend.

"Come on, I owe you lots so just let me pay back this one time." Chiwon replied, the smile not fading away. Yein just watched the two of them while trying to figure out what they were thinking. Again, empathy was never his best trait. 

"But..."

"It's all right. The beast can't possibly be here at the marketplace with this crowd of people. Just meet me at the entrance once you're done." Chiwon said then bowed at Yein. "It's nice meeting you. I hope to see you again." She then disappeared among the crowd while Yein just watched the whole thing silently.

'They're scared of the beast so they stick together in doing errands, I see. I'm not sure what happened but it's a good opportunity for me since I'm alone with Jinseong.' He was snapped out of his thoughts when Jinseong began to speak.

"I'm sorry about Chiwon. I hope you don't find it weird that she suddenly left us alone. I don't even think we have anything to talk about." She said, rubbing her nape and staring at Yein's facial features. She had been doing that since the previous day and Yein did not really mind but he would feel 'funny' every time. After a long pause, Jinseong continued, "So, um, what brought you here?"

"I was just exploring the village and I ended up in this marketplace." Yein replied, turning his gaze from her to the jewelries that she was previously admiring. They looked nothing special in his eyes. 

"Exploring the village? Are you not from here?"

"No, I'm not. I'm a traveller and I just happened to pass by this small village. It's interesting, I must say." He glanced at her, who was staring at him with a curious expression. "I might stay around for a while longer."

"Wow, you are interesting." She finally smiled and Yein let out a breath he did not realize he was holding. "Where are you originally from?"

"Does that matter?" He watched as she wrinkled her nose at the response. "I mean, it's not really a big deal. I'm more curious about you."

"There's nothing to be curious about. I'm just me." She replied rather flatly. But that was exactly what Yein was curious about. It's just "her" but for some reason, his hunting abilities seem to go dull whenever she's around.

"Then, I'm curious about what is 'just you'." He figured he was too vague when Jinseong stayed silent and stared at him with a confused expression. "Mind if we take a walk? Or will you trip on nothing again?"

"Are you saying offensive things on purpose? Of course, I don't mind walking." She answered with a soft laugh. "And I still don't think there's anything to be curious about myself but if you have anything you want to know, then I may or may not mind answering."

Yein was not sure what to ask her since it was not like he could ask her about his problem directly. However, when they started walking, words just came out naturally from his mouth and for a moment, he felt like another human having another normal conversation. "Hm... like why did you become a shaman?"

"You're not from here so you wouldn't have known but my family is known to be a family of shaman. My mother used to be the head shaman and it's only natural for her only child to train for the title." She said rather proudly. "I still have a long way to go though."

"Your mother used to be? So, she isn't the head shaman anymore?"

"Yeah, well, " She paused, gave Yein a glance then looked back to the front before hesitantly continuing, "She's already dead."

"I'm sorry to hear that." He wasn't but he found himself trying to be polite.

"Don't be." Her lips were pressed into a thin line as she struggled to show a smile. "It's been ages and she was already old anyway. The heavens might have wanted to end her suffering already."

"The heavens, huh?" Yein muttered, a little confused but decided to drop the topic. "Do you like what you're doing, as a shaman?"

"I can't say I like it but I can't say I don't either. It's the only thing I've ever done my whole life and the only thing I'll ever do in my whole life." She replied with a chuckle, lightly passing on the topic. Yein, nodded in response, lost for words at the moment. Perhaps, despite being different creatures, they had some similarities. Hunting was the only thing that he knew how to do and will do. It was not like they were given a choice.


	3. The Calamity

"That mister, hm, Yein, he's interested in you, is he?" Chiwon inquired out of the blue, making Jinseong stop walking to give her friend a glare. It was early morning and the sun had not yet risen. They were off to gather plants from the woods and clearly, it was not such 'a good time to talk about nonsense'. "What? I'm just stating the obvious. He comes to the temple everyday to see you. He even gives a lot of donation just to woo you. Even the older shamans notice it."

"I don't know what you're talking about. He's just a nice person." Jinseong replied, forcing a frown but her cheeks had betrayed her as she felt it becoming warm. Thankfully, their surrounding was not illuminated enough for Chiwon to notice.

"You know what I'm talking about!" Chiwon said with a whine. "And have you seen the way he looks at you? There's just something different."

"There is-sn't. Y-You're imagining things." Jinseong tried to keep the nonchalant tone but her stammering gave out how flustered she was.

It had been sixteen days since she met Yein and he had been treating her really nicely. Like Chiwon said, he would go to the temple everyday and would donate generously. He would also accompany her whenever she would fetch drinking water, saying he had nothing better to do. It was not that Jinseong could not notice how special he was treating her but instead, she did not want to think about it. She knew little about him except that he was a traveller who was staying in their village for a while. 'What if he gets bored? Then, he'll just leave and I got my hopes up for nothing.'

"Why are you flustered then?" Her friend squinted her eyes at her. A cheeky grin then showed on her face. "Perhaps, do you have some affection for him?"

"Wh-Why? Does that matter?" Jinseong avoided Chiwon's gaze as she covered her flushing cheeks with her hand. 

"So, you do?" Chiwon asked, laughing and Jinseong responded with a hesitant nod. "You're more straightforward than I thought. Hmm, but since he seems like a good person, I'll give both of you my support. As your friend, I think you should go for it."

Jinseong took a deep breath, calming her flustered self down before replying. "I just like him a little. I don't even know the person that much. We can't be sure if he has other ulterior motives and we also don't know. What if he already has a family in another village and such? The innocent looking ones are usually the unpredictable ones so I can't just go for it." She let out a sigh at the thought. "Also, even if that's the case, he won't stay here for long. Even if he does, I still have no chance since he looks like someone from a noble family. Basically, what I'm saying is we can't be together no matter what."

"Geez, what a negative thinker" Chiwon sighed as she shook her head. "I'll pray that the heavens will be by your side so stop overthinking things. Following your heart is not bad once in a while." She had a reassuring smile on her face and Jinseong could not help but smile too.

"Well, still..." She chuckled softly. "Never mind. I'll trust you about this then."

\----------------

The morning ritual went smooth like usual, with the head shaman gracefully dancing and chanting, leading the crowd who came to pray for their safety, for grace and for thanking the heavens. It was already a month and a half since the 'beast' killed anyone so there were rumors that the creature had already met its end. Nonetheless, the head shaman insisted that they should continue their ritual until they were all certain that the beast was indeed already dead. Jinseong could not care less whether they would continue with their morning ceremony or not since either way, she would still have a lot of task in hand. What she was concerned about was the disappearance of the 'beast'. She doubted it. She just knew that that murderer was still alive but why he suddenly stopped hunting was beyond her.

"Those are some deep thoughts for such a fair morning." She was snapped out of her thoughts by a familiar voice. She looked up to see Yein, who was staring at her with a soft smile on his lips. Her expression immediately softened, returning the smile. "What are you thinking about?" His voice was often gentle but this time, it was hoarse.

"It's nothing." The ceremony had already ended and she was idly standing outside the temple, contemplating various things when Yein approached her. "I guess I should be glad that the heavens finally heard our prayer..." She trailed off as she observed the pale color of the other's lips. She noticed it recently - Yein seemed sick but he would always brush it off. This time, however, he looked terrible and his voice sounded different too. "Is it just me or are you sick?"

"I'm not." The cough that followed his words did not help in making him believable.

"Seriously?" Jinseong frowned, crossing her arms across her chest. "Are you not eating well?"

"I am." He chuckled, rather dryly and Jinseong's expression got stiffer. "Are you mad? I'm not that sick. Even if I am, it's not contagious so rest assured, you won't get sick by being around me." The female rolled her eyes at his statement. 'This idiot can't even tell that someone's worried about him.'

"This isn't about me." She took a deep breath, trying to gather her words but ended up giving up on it. "Forget it. Just come with me inside. I'll make you some food. You have nothing to do anyway." Instead of responding, he simply stared at her with a blank expression and at the moment, Jinseong could not tell what he was thinking -- not that she could ever guess what was inside his mind. There was a long pause before she continued, "You can just consider it ats a payment of some sort since you've been giving a lot of donations lately."

"There's no need to-" He spoke up but she ignored him and started to lead the way inside the temple, hoping that Yein would follow her. When it comes to being stubborn, no one could really beat her or at least, that's what she thought. He stumbled a bit and he grabbed her wrist, making her turn to look at him. She wanted to get mad, worried mad but how could she? Yein was staring at her intently.

"Wh-What?" She managed to stammer out, avoiding eye contact.

"I actually only came to say good bye. I was hoping that you could send me off with a smile, instead of such a solemn expression." Jinseong blinked, her body freezing at what she heard. 'Good bye? He's leaving?' She knew it would happen but it was happening sooner than she thought. While she was occupied in processing his words, he put out a jewelry from his pocket then extended out his hand to hand it to her. "When we saw each other at the market, you were looking at this and I thought I should give you a farewell gift."

"Thank you." It took a lot of effort to prevent herself from crying out there and clinging to him. 'I barely even know him. Just be cool.' She was so focused on trying to come up with positive thoughts that she forgot to force a smile. "I like it."

"Surely, you like it more than your face shows." Another dry chuckle. "I must get going now then..." Jinseong was not certain if it was Yein or her imagination but she heard him say _"or I may change my mind"_. 

"Be safe. We will see each other again in the future, right?" She finally met his eyes, whose was gaze was still fixed at her. 

"I hope so." There was no sincerety in his tone. She just felt it. "Take care and good bye." Jinseong watched as he walked away but before he could get too far, he fell on the ground, unconscious. Jinseong gasped, sheer panic taking over her. 

"Help! Someone fainted!" She called out to the other shamans inside. Chiwon was quick to come out to help. It took them a couple of minutes to get Yein inside and drag him to their room.

"What happened?" Chiwon finally got the chance to ask once they have settled down. She took a seat next to Yein and across Jinseong, who was wiping the male's face with a damped cloth.

"He's sick." Jinseong answered after a few seconds as she placed the cloth on the male's forehead. Her gaze was fixed on his sleeping face. "He's been sick these past few days but no matter what I say, he just doesn't listen. I hope he's fine."

"I hope so too." Chiwon agreed, letting out a sigh. "Should I get him some porridge? We have some leftover from breakfast."

Jinseong only gave a nod as a response, her brain still occupied with everything that happened. 'Yein's sick but why am I relieved? He's about to leave. If he hasn't fainted, he would be gone by now. I really am a selfish person.' She took a deep breath and passed out a sigh. 'No, I should stop letting my thoughts wander in the wrong direction. He must get better no matter what. He wants to leave. He enjoys travelling so forcing him to stay here is just selfish.' She reached out to grab his hand - it was cold, the coldest hand that she ever held. There was an unconscious smile plastered on her face as she gave it a gentle squeeze. "Please get better soon. There are places that you want to go to. You can't be held back here."

\------------------

The day seemed shorter than the other days and nighttime came too soon. Yein was still in their room, sleeping. He woke up twice during the day and both times, he was barely conscious and he would not speak a word. They gave him porridge but he would throw it up right after eating. The relief that Jinseong felt was already gone and she was filled with worried since she felt like nothing could make Yein go better.

"Jinseong, Chiwon, I heard that there is a man staying in your quarters." The head shaman said during their dinner. She was strict with a lot of things so it made the two best friends nervous when she called them out. "Just squeeze yourself in any of the other rooms if there is enough space. I'll let you off this time since I also heard that he's really sick. Make sure to send him out tomorrow."

"Yes, ma'am." Jinseong and Chiwon replied in unison.

"Who is he, by the way?" inquired another shaman. 

"Isn't he the man who always visits Jinseong? He's that feminine-looking guy, if I remember correctly", added another.

"Ohh, the man who's courting our Jinseong"

"He's not courting me." Jinseong spoke rather timidly, recalling her conversation with Yein earlier. "We're just friends and that's it."

"You can't be certain of that. We don't know what will happen in the future", said another shaman with a hum.

"There's no future." Jinseong forced a smile despite the negative thoughts. "He's leaving as soon as he's well. He's a traveller and he has better places to be. I'm sorry but can we please drop this conversation? I feel bad for him since he's sick while we're talking behind his back."

"Well then," Chiwon, who was as surprised as the other shaman at Jinseong's statement, spoke up and shifted the conversation away from the sick person.

'Finally, some peace and quiet.' While the others were chatting, Jinseong's attention was solely focus on her meal. She wanted to finish dinner as soon as possible to check up on Yein. 'He hasn't eaten since this morning. What kind of sickness does he have? I heard there's a good doctor in the other village. I've never been there but I should accompany him if he's still not better. What if he lose consciousness again?' Her thoughts were interrupted by a loud scream, followed by a thud from outside. All eyes turned to the door but all were frozen in their seats. This dinner would not end as peacefully as she thought. For a few seconds, there was only silence except for the heavy nervous breathings by the women inside the room.

"I'll check what's going on." The head shaman uttered out as she gathered all her courage to stand up and go outside.

"I-I'll go with you." Another shaman said in almost a whisper, hurriedly following the head shaman who was already outside the door. The rest were silent, unsure of what was happening but everyone knew something was wrong. There was a scream - it was the scream of the head shaman. Then, there was another, the scream of the shaman who followed her. This time, everyone rose up from their seats, hurrying towards the door.

"Soldiers! There are soldiers!" Screamed another shaman, throwing everyone in disarray. Everyone rushed outside in panic. Jinseong was standing behind the door, frozen in her place as she watched outside. There were soldiers with horses passing by outside the temple and there are a few soldiers rushing towards the temple. She had never seen them upclose before - metallic protective armors, swords, heavy boots, bows. Everything was so unfamiliar. 

"Jinseong! Let's go!" It was Chiwon who grabbed Jinseong's hand and pulled her outside of the temple, running away towards the back, where she hoped the enemy had still not seen. "I don't know what's going on but those soldiers are going to kill everyone. I won't let them kill you." Her voice was shaky and despite it being dark, her best friend could tell that she was crying.

"We won't die here." She replied in monotone despite the attempt to sound reassuring. Her mind was blank. It seemed to have stop functioning the moment her eyes saw the soldiers outside. She felt Chiwon gently squeezed her hand and she squeezed her's back. A moment later, they were already behind the temple. Both girls were panting, already tired from the short run.

"We just have to climb the wall and esca-- ahh!" Chiwon's sentence was interrupted by her own scream when a couple of soldiers jumped from the wall. The two best friends took a step back. Chiwon let go of Jinseong's hand, to spread out her arms and cover for her. "Jinseong, please run away. I'll try to distract them." Her voice was shaking as she whispered to her friend.

"Are you crazy?" Jinseong snapped out of her trance to grab Chiwon's hands again. They could escape together. She was not sure how but they could do it if they tried. Unfortunately, it was too late. An arrow came flying and hit Chiwon on her chest. "Ch-Chiwon!" Her shaking hands found its way to Chiwon's bleeding chest.

"Man, how troublesome," Chiwon said in between sobs and grunt. "I told you to run away."

"Chiwon? Ch-Chiwon?" Jinseong felt her knees go weak and she fell, sitting on the ground with her best friend leaning towards her, already lifeless. She felt tears rushing out of her eyes and her heart sinking. "You can't die here. You still have to be the head shaman, remember? A-and I can't do all their errands by myself. Being the youngest is always hard. Wake up. Please. You're my only friend. Please."

Her vision was already blurry from the tears but when she looked up at the enemy, she could tell that an arrow was on its way to hit her. She was too devastated to move and she didn't even bother to. However, the arrow never landed on her for a familiar figure blocked it with his bare hand. A "familiar figure" would be much of an understatement. It was the figure of the murderer she would never forget. He shot her a glance, his eyes as gray as she remembered. The moonlight illuminated the creature's features, white hair, white complexion, wolf's ears, tails and claws - the beast was standing right before her eyes.


End file.
